[Application of automatic slide-dropping instrument in bone marrow chromosomal karyotyping].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the application of an automatic slide-dropping instrument in bone marrow chromosomal karyotyping. METHODS: The effects of manual and automatic dropping methods under different environmental humidity were retrospectively analyzed, and the repeatability of the automatic dropping method was analyzed. RESULTS: No statistical difference was found between the results of automatic and manual dropping methods under the optimum ambient humidity and high humidity (P > 0.05). At low humidity, there was a statistical difference between the two methods (P < 0.05). With regard to the repeatability, the coefficient of variations of the automatic dropping method for the number of split phases, the rate of good dispersion and the rate of overlap were all lower than those of the manual dropping method. A statistical difference was also found in the number of split phases (P < 0.05) but not in the discrete excellent rate and overlapping rate between the two methods (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Better effect can be obtained by the automatic dropping instrument. It is suggested to gradually replace manual work with machine.

Construction of Dome-Shaped 3D Corneal Epithelial Tissue Models Based on Eyeball-Shaped Gel Microspheres.

By overcoming interspecies differences and mimicking the in vivo microenvironment, three-dimensional (3D) in vitro corneal models have become a significant novel tool in contemporary ophthalmic disease research. However, existing 3D corneal models struggle to replicate the actual human corneal environment, especially the dome-shaped physiological structure with adjustable curvature. Addressing these challenges, this study introduces a straightforward method for fabricating collagen/chitosan-alginate eyeball-shaped gel microspheres with a Janus structure via a two-phase aqueous system, used subsequently to construct in vitro 3D corneal epithelial tissue models. By adjusting the diameter ratio of collagen/chitosan to alginate droplets, we can create eyeball-shaped gel microspheres with varying curvatures. Human corneal epithelial cells were seeded on the surfaces of these microspheres, leading to the formation of in vitro 3D corneal epithelial tissues characterized by dome-like multilayers and tight junctions. Additionally, the model demonstrated responsiveness to UVB exposure through the secretion of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and proinflammatory factors. Therefore, we believe that in vitro 3D corneal epithelial tissue models with dome-shaped structures hold significant potential for advancing ophthalmic research.

Higher Vocational Nursing Students' Clinical Core Competence in China: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Introduction: Understanding the clinical core competence of nursing students in higher vocational colleges is crucial for adjusting the nursing core curriculum and training of nursing professionals. However, little is known about the level of clinical core competence of higher vocational nursing students in China. Objective: To investigate nursing students' clinical core competence in the school of nursing and health at a vocational and technical college in Guangdong, China. Methods: The Core Competency Scale for Registered Nurses in China was used to evaluate the clinical core competence of higher vocational nursing students from February to March 2022. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis test. Results: A total of 1,120 nursing students were investigated, 1,069 were valid questionnaires, and the response rate was 95.4%. The total score of core competence score of higher vocational nursing students was 176.55 ± 43.95, only 43.3% of students obtained an overall score more than 178, and 47.7% of students scored between 116 and 178 scores. The lowest score was on critical thinking and scientific research (2.72 ± 0.77) following by clinical nursing (2.85 ± 0.80), which had differences in gender, category of students, and years of study. There were differences in the total average score of core competence in terms of gender and category of students. Leadership and interpersonal relationships differ significantly by gender, while professional development, teaching, and coaching differ significantly by category of student. Conclusions: The findings revealed the core competence of higher vocational nursing students is at a medium level. Moreover, critical thinking and scientific research, and clinical nursing ability are significantly insufficient.

Self-supervised context-aware correlation filter for robust landmark tracking in liver ultrasound sequences.

OBJECTIVES: Respiratory motion-induced displacement of internal organs poses a significant challenge in image-guided radiation therapy, particularly affecting liver landmark tracking accuracy. METHODS: Addressing this concern, we propose a self-supervised method for robust landmark tracking in long liver ultrasound sequences. Our approach leverages a Siamese-based context-aware correlation filter network, trained by using the consistency loss between forward tracking and back verification. By effectively utilizing both labeled and unlabeled liver ultrasound images, our model, Siam-CCF , mitigates the impact of speckle noise and artifacts on ultrasonic image tracking by a context-aware correlation filter. Additionally, a fusion strategy for template patch feature helps the tracker to obtain rich appearance information around the point-landmark. RESULTS: Siam-CCF achieves a mean tracking error of 0.79 ± 0.83 mm at a frame rate of 118.6 fps, exhibiting a superior speed-accuracy trade-off on the public MICCAI 2015 Challenge on Liver Ultrasound Tracking (CLUST2015) 2D dataset. This performance won the 5th place on the CLUST2015 2D point-landmark tracking task. CONCLUSIONS: Extensive experiments validate the effectiveness of our proposed approach, establishing it as one of the top-performing techniques on the CLUST2015 online leaderboard at the time of this submission.

Automatic Detoxification Medicine Delivery by Thermo-Sensitive Poly(ethylene glycol)-Based Nanogels.

During the medication-assisted treatment of drug abuse, side effects and addiction liabilities are commonly observed. Thus, control of the medication dose is very important. According to body temperature abnormalities in drug abusers, a thermo-sensitive nanogel was synthesized as a drug carrier to automatically deliver detoxification medicines. This nanogel was prepared through the synthesis of polystyrene (PS) core microspheres, followed by coverage with a nonlinear poly(ethylene glycol)-based copolymer shell. The PS core microspheres were found to be an ideal hydrophobic core for loading the detoxification medicines effectively. The nonlinear poly(ethylene glycol)-based copolymer shell layer consisted of 2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethyl methacrylate (MEO2MA) and oligo(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylates (Mn = 300 g mol-1, MEO5MA). The monomer feeding molar ratio n(MEO2MA)/n(MEO5MA) of 1:3 enabled PS@P(MEO2MA-co-MEO5MA) nanogels to exhibit a distinguished colloidal stability and an adjustable volume phase transition temperature which is within the drug addicts' abnormally fluctuating temperature range. Importantly, it was found that the obtained PS@P(MEO2MA-co-MEO5MA) nanogels displayed good biocompatibility with rat aortic endothelial cells in the given concentration range. The nanogels also exhibited a satisfactory loading efficiency and thermo-sensitive/sustained release characteristics for three detoxification medicines: sinomenine, diltiazem and chlorpromazine.

Sphingosine kinases are involved in the regulation of all-trans retinoic acid sensitivity of K562 chronic myeloid leukemia cells.

The efficacy of all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) has been reported to be limited both as single-drug treatment or in combination with other drugs. Our previous study demonstrated that sphingosine 1-phosphate attenuated the effects of ATRA on human colon cancer cells by blocking the expression of retinoic acid receptor ß. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the ATRA-dependent proliferation inhibition of K562 cells was regulated by sphingosine kinases (SphKs). The results of cell proliferation assay and reverse transcription-PCR demonstrated that ATRA may exert synergistic effects with the SphK1 inhibitor SKI 5C or the pan-SphK inhibitor SKI II to inhibit the proliferation of K562 cells and upregulate the expression levels of the ATRA-inducible enzyme cytochrome P450 26A1 (CYP26A1). Knocking down the expression of SphK1 or SphK2 in K562 cells by small interfering RNA enhanced the inhibitory effects of ATRA and induced the expression of CYP26A1. Crude asterosaponins, which abrogated the expression of SphK2, also enhanced the effects of ATRA on K562 cells. In conclusion, the results of the present study demonstrated that SphKs may be involved in the regulation of the sensitivity of CML cells to ATRA.

Plasma Exosomal CircNEK9 Accelerates the Progression of Gastric Cancer via miR-409-3p/MAP7 Axis.

BACKGROUND: Exosome-mediated transfer of circular RNAs (circRNAs) is related to gastric cancer (GC) development. CircRNA NIMA-related kinase 9 (circNEK9; hsa_circ_0032683) was reported to be up-regulated in GC. AIMS: The biological role of circNEK9 and its underlying mechanisms in GC progression were explored. METHODS: The levels of RNAs and proteins were determined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and Western blot assay. Cell proliferation was assessed by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, colony formation assay, and flow cytometry. Wound healing assay and transwell assays were conducted to analyze cell motility. Intermolecular interaction was verified by dual-luciferase reporter assay and RNA pull-down assay. Animal experiments were used to evaluate the role of circNEK9 in the growth of xenograft tumors in vivo. RESULTS: CircNEK9 was up-regulated in GC tissues and cell lines. CircNEK9 interference suppressed the proliferation and motility of GC cells. CircNEK9 silencing enhanced microRNA-409-3p (miR-409-3p) level through direct interaction. CircNEK9 silencing-mediated influences on the proliferation and metastasis of GC cells were partly overturned by the interference of miR-409-3p. MiR-409-3p directly interacted with microtubule-associated protein 7 (MAP7) messenger RNA (mRNA). MiR-409-3p-induced effects in GC cells were largely counteracted by the overexpression of MAP7. CircNEK9 silencing blocked GC tumor growth in vivo. Exosome-mediated transfer of circNEK9 promoted the motility of recipient GC cells. CONCLUSIONS: CircNEK9 accelerated the proliferation, migration, and invasion of GC cells through targeting miR-409-3p/MAP7 axis. Plasma exosomal circNEK9 promoted the migration and invasion of recipient GC cells.

Socioeconomic status predicts the risk of stroke death: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Low socioeconomic status appears to be an independent risk factor for stroke mortality in epidemiology studies, but there has been no systematic assessment of this association. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis evaluating the association between low socioeconomic status and stroke mortality. A systematic review of MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Web of Science for cohort studies that reported low socioeconomic status and stroke mortality was conducted from inception until July 2017. Research information, adjusted risk ratio (RR) estimates and 95% confidence intervals (Cls) were extracted. Estimates were pooled using a random-effects model. Heterogeneity was examined using the Q statistic and I 2. Twenty-seven prospective cohort studies (471,354,852 subjects; 429,886 deaths) assessing stroke mortality with low socioeconomic status were identified. Compared with the highest socioeconomic status, overall RR of stroke mortality was 1.39 (95% CI, 1.31-1.48) for those with the lowest after adjustment for confounding factors, but there was substantial heterogeneity between studies (I 2 = 89.9%, P = 0.001). Significant relationships were observed between risk of stroke mortality and the lowest education (RR = 1.21, 95% CI 1.11-1.33; I 2 = 70.9%, P < 0.001), income (RR = 1.54, 95% CI 1.30-1.82; I 2 = 91.6%, P < 0.001), occupation (RR = 1.54, 95% CI 1.35-1.75; I 2 = 78.3%, P < 0.001), composite socioeconomic status (RR = 1.37, 95% CI 1.25-1.51; I 2 = 69.5%, P = 0.001). After subgroup analysis, it was found that the heterogeneity of each SES indicator mainly came from the follow-up time, study population, stroke type, study area. Patients with low socioeconomic status had a higher risk of stroke mortality. The heterogeneity of income and occupation is larger, and the education and composite SES is smaller.

Association between socioeconomic status and prognosis after ischemic stroke in South China.

Background: Previous studies have conflicting results on the association between socioeconomic status and stroke outcomes. Thus, this study aimed to investigate whether socioeconomic status is associated with the prognosis of ischemic stroke in Guangzhou, South China. Methods: A total of 622 patients with ischemic stroke who were admitted in the neurology department of five general hospitals in Guangzhou from May 2014 to October 2014 were included in the study. Socioeconomic status was measured based on education, income, caregiver, and insurance. The modified Rankin scale was used to evaluate the two years prognosis of patients with stroke. A multivariate logistic regression model was performed to determine the association between socioeconomic status and ischemic stroke prognosis. Results: In 2 years follow-up, 542 ischemic stroke patients were interviewed by telephone. Age ranged from 31 to 96 years, 65.5% of the patients were male. 33.9% of patients with ischemic stroke had a poor prognosis. After adjustment for age, sex, cardiovascular disease, behavior lifestyle, and severity of stroke, odds ratio for poor prognosis in patients with low income was 1.84 (95%CI 1.05-3.22), family caregiver 3.19 (95%CI 1.05-9.70), and no insurance 1.68 (95%CI 1.02-2.77). Conclusions: Patients with low income, family caregiver, and no insurance have a poorer prognosis after ischemic stroke that can be partly explained by intermediate variable in the patients' demographic characteristics, cardiovascular disease, behavior lifestyle, and stroke severity. Abbreviations: DALYs: disability-adjusted life years; SES: socioeconomic status; FMC: free medical care; MIUR: medical insurance for urban residents; MIUE: medical insurance for urban employees; NCMS: new rural cooperative medical scheme ; NIHSS: National Institute of Health Stroke Scale ; mRS: modified Rankin scale; OR: odds ratios; CI: confidence interval.

Effects of socioeconomic status on risk of ischemic stroke: a case-control study in the Guangzhou population.

BACKGROUND: The association between socioeconomic status (SES) and stroke risk remains controversial around the world. It is not clear that the effect of SES on stroke in China due to the lack of relevant research. We aimed to assess the association between SES and risks of first-ever ischemic stroke in Guangzhou, China. METHODS: Cases were recruited from neurology department in the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University during September 2016-October 2017. Age- and sex-matched controls were derived from surgical departments, over the same period. SES was assessed based on education, occupation, and income. Education was divided into ≤6 years, 6-9 years, 10-12 years, and > 12 years. Family monthly income per capita was categorized into ≤¥1000, ¥1001-3000, ¥3001-5000, and > ¥5001. Occupation was stratified into manual, non-manual, no job, and retired. A multivariate logistic regression model was used to determine the association between SES and risk of ischemic stroke. RESULTS: In total, 347 ischemic stroke patients and 347 controls were recruited, with mean ages of 60.54 ± 13.13 and 60.56 ± 13.07 years, respectively. After adjusting for confounding factors, odds ratio (OR) for 6-9 years of education was 2.63 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.45-4.75); > 12 years, 2.18 (1.25-3.82) compared with those for < 6 years of education. ORs for the second lowest, third lowest, and highest incomes were 1.96 (1.21-3.15), 4.16 (2.39-7.22), and 2.83(1.25-6.39), respectively, compared with those for the lowest income. ORs for manual workers and non-manual workers were 1.95 (1.23-3.07) and 1.87 (1.05-3.33), compared with individuals without jobs. CONCLUSIONS: Higher SES is positively related with risks of ischemic stroke, explained by cardiovascular diseases and unhealthy lifestyles in Guangzhou, China. Thus, effective strategies such as extensive health education, promoting a healthy lifestyle, screening for risk factors to prevent stroke should be implemented to reduce ischemic stroke incidences among the high SES group.

[Clinical and laboratory characteristics of hematopathy with t(5;12)(q33;p13) translocation].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical and laboratory characteristics of hematopoietic tumor with t(5;12)(q33;p13). To sum up the similarities and differences of these diseases. METHODS: The chromosome samples were prepared by short-term training of bone marrow cells, and the karyotype analysis was carried out by R or G band. Using PDGFRb dual color fracture rearrangement probe and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) technology to detect the rearrangement of the gene, the immune-typing analysis was performed using flow cytometry. For 7 cases with t(5;12)(q33;p13) patients with hematopathy were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: Seven patients were diagnosed with different diagnoses, mainly male. Nuclear type analysis 5 cases of t(5;12)(q33;p13) was of primary abnormality and 2 cases of secondary abnormality. Five of the seven patients were treated and two untreated. Among the treatment patients, two cases were fatal, two case was lost and one case was treated with combined chemotherapy with dasatinib targeted therapy. The treatment process was successful and is still in hospital. CONCLUSION: With t (5;12) (q33;p13) blood system tumors are rare and have unique clinical and laboratory characteristics. At the same time, the heterogeneity is obvious, the patients with tyrosine kinase inhibitor combined with chemotherapy have good effect and good prognosis, and the prognosis of chemotherapy alone is poor.

Novel Self-Assembly Route Assisted Ultra-Fast Trace Volatile Organic Compounds Gas Sensing Based on Three-Dimensional Opal Microspheres Composites for Diabetes Diagnosis.

The development of ultra-fast response semiconductor gas sensors for high-accuracy detection of trace volatile organic compounds in human exhaled breath still remains a challenge. Herein, we propose a novel self-assembly synthesis concept for preparing intricate three-dimensional (3D) opal porous (OP) SnO2-ZnO hollow microspheres (HM), by employing sulfonated polystyrene (S-PS) spheres template-assisted ultrasonic spray pyrolysis. The high gas accessibility of the unique opal hollow structures resulted in the existence of 3D interconnection and bimodal (mesoscale and macroscale) pores, and the n-n heterojunction-induced change in oxygen adsorption. The 3D OP SnO2-ZnO HM sensor exhibited high response and ultra-fast dynamic process (response time ∼4 s and recovery time ∼17 s) to 1.8 ppm acetone under highly humid ambient condition (98% relative humidity), and it could rapidly identify the states of the exhaled breath of healthy people and simulated diabetics. In addition, the rational structure design of the 3D OP SnO2 HM enables the ultra-fast detection (within 1 s) of ethanol in simulation drunk driving testing. Our results obtained in this work provided not only a facile self-assembly approach to fabricate metal oxides with 3D OP HM structures but also a new methodology for achieving noninvasive real-time exhaled breath detection.

Clinical significance of ADAM29 promoting the invasion and growth of gastric cancer cells in vitro.

ADAM metallopeptidase domain 29 (ADAM29) belongs to the ADAM family, is a type I integral membrane protein and secrets a glycoprotein that mediates cell-cell and cell-matrix interaction. Aberrant expression of ADAM29 is involved in a number of physiological processes diversification. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the expression and biological effect of ADAM29 in human gastric cancer (GC) specimens and cell lines in vitro. The expression of ADAM29 was examined in 83 GC samples and 25 adjacent normal gastric tissues using quantitative reverse transcriptase-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry. The association between ADAM29 expression and cellular function of GC cells was assessed in vitro. The ADAM29 mRNA levels were significantly elevated in GC tissues compared with paracancerous tissues. Increased levels of ADAM29 were associated with high-grade staging and high Tumor-Node-Metastasis stages. Kaplan-Meier survival curves demonstrated that patients with GC and low ADAM29 transcript levels exhibited longer overall survival (OS) (P<0.01) and progression-free survival (PFS) time (P<0.01) compared with patients with high ADAM29 expression levels. ADAM29 significantly promoted the proliferation, migration and invasion of GC cells in vitro when overexpressed in MGC803 cells and knocked down in AGS cells. ADAM29 was increased in GC and the elevated expression of ADAM29 was associated with a poor survival rate of patients. ADAM29 may become a prognostic factor and therapeutic candidate for human GC.

Electrically Conductive Coordination Polymer for Highly Selective Chemiresistive Sensing of Volatile Amines.

A new electrically conductive coordination polymer is synthesized using anthracene-incorporated organic ligand. The compound exhibits a band-like structure and long-range π-π stacking of ligand. Interestingly, the fabricated chemiresisitor using this coordination polymer shows selective sensing behavior for volatile amine detection with characteristics of quick response, good reproducibility, and room-temperature operation. This study not only presents a rare example of electrically conductive coordination polymer but also illustrates the useful application of coordination polymer for chemiresistor.

Differences of polyunsaturated fatty acid in patients with colorectal cancer and healthy people.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to compare the difference of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) between patients with colorectal cancer and healthy people and analyze the effect of PUFA on colorectal cancer by testing serum of PUFA. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred and fifty-six healthy people and 79 patients with colorectal cancer were randomly chosen in Beijing, China. PUFA level was measured in two groups. According to different stages, sizes, degree of differentiation, lymph node metastases from patients with colorectal cancer, we compared metabolize situation of PUFA. RESULTS: Total omega-6 PUFA level was higher in healthy people group than that in colorectal cancer group (25.77 ± 3.21 vs. 26.86 ± 1.65, P = 0.0125); moreover, arachidonic acid (AA) level was also higher in healthy people group than that in colorectal cancer group (5.02 ± 1.32 vs. 6.08 ± 1.26, P = 0.0344); total omega-3 PUFA level was lower in colorectal cancer group than that in healthy people group; furthermore, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) was also lower in colorectal cancer group than that in healthy people group. AA and total omega-6 were significant differences between less than 5 cm of tumor size and more than 5 cm of tumor size (13.11 ± 2.91 vs. 14.44 ± 1.81, P < 0.05; 27.02 ± 4.54 vs. 28.76 ± 3.08, P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: PUFA level was significant difference between healthy people and colorectal cancer patients in the Chinese population. Tumor size probably had influence on the metabolism of PUFA.

Temperature coefficient of frequency modeling for CMOS-MEMS bulk mode composite resonators.

CMOS-MEMS resonators, which are promising building blocks for achieving monolithic integration of MEMS structure, can be used for timing and filtering applications, and control circuitry. SiO2 has been used to make MEMS resonators with quality factor Q > 10(4), but temperature instability remains a major challenge. In this paper, a design that uses an embedded metal block for temperature compensation is proposed and shows sub-ppm temperature stability (-0.21 ppm/K). A comprehensive analytical model is derived and applied to analyze and optimize the temperature coefficient of frequency (TCF) of the CMOS-MEMS composite material resonator. Comparison with finite element method simulation demonstrates good accuracy. The model can also be applied to predict and analyze the TCF of MEMS resonators with arbitrary mode shape, and its integration with simulation packages enables interactive and efficient design process.

Brown Adipose Tissue Transplantation Reverses Obesity in Ob/Ob Mice.

Increasing evidence indicates that brown adipose tissue (BAT) transplantation enhances whole-body energy metabolism in a mouse model of diet-induced obesity. However, it remains unclear whether BAT also has such beneficial effects on genetically obese mice. To address this issue, we transplanted BAT from C57/BL6 mice into the dorsal subcutaneous region of age- and sex-matched leptin deficient Ob/Ob mice. Interestingly, BAT transplantation led to a significant reduction of body weight gain with increased oxygen consumption and decreased total body fat mass, resulting in improvement of insulin resistance and liver steatosis. In addition, BAT transplantation increased the level of circulating adiponectin, whereas it reduced the levels of circulating free T3 and T4, which regulate thyroid hormone sensitivity in peripheral tissues. BAT transplantation also increased ß3-adrenergic receptor and fatty acid oxidation related gene expression in subcutaneous and epididymal (EP) white adipose tissue. Accordingly, BAT transplantation increased whole-body thermogenesis. Taken together our results demonstrate that BAT transplantation may reduce obesity and its related diseases by activating endogenous BAT.

Clinical and laboratory studies of 17 patients with acute myeloid leukemia harboring t(7;11)(p15;p15) translocation.

The cellular and molecular genetic aberrations of hematopoietic and lymphoid tissues are increasingly important in leukemia classification and are prognostically significant. Although some recurrent molecular cytogenetic abnormalities in AML have been extensively studied, others including t(7;11)(p15;p15) have not been well characterized. In this paper, seventeen AML patients with t(7;11)(p15;p15) were retrospectively reviewed for cell morphology, immuno-phenotype, cytogenetics as well as clinical features and prognosis. Among them, thirteen were female; nine were AML-M2. Six patients who were newly diagnosed were alive, one was lost for followed up and ten died. The median survival was 8 months. Taking together, AML with t(7;11)(p15;p15) is a rare and distinct disease. Most patients with this translocation are female at younger age and have special clinical and hematological characteristics such as M2-subtype of AML, easy to relapse and poor prognosis.